Ponyville was in a state of panic. The mayor had called a state of emergency, recruiting every Pegasus pony in town to form search parties to look for Princess Celestia.

The Princess had gone missing, and nobody had seen her since her Royal Guards escorted her to her private living quarters to prepare for her appearance at the Summer Sun Celebration. And since Ponyville was the last place she was seen, some ponies feared that the rest of the throne would blame their town for her disappearance.

Pegasus flew in every direction, unicorns used magic spells to try and locate a trail that might lead them to her, and earth ponies ran to and from the mayor's office carrying out orders that came left and right.

Every pony in Ponyville was either running to find the Princess or running to go hide. Some ponies stopped to wonder what had happened to the party that went out to the Everfree Forest, when they succeed with getting the Elements everything would be back to normal... right?

Little did the town know, they had bigger reason to fear then they thought, completely unaware of the events taking place in the middle of the Everfree Forest

Events that would shape their lives forever

A sharp cry pierced the air around a ruined old castle. The sound of crunching bones and horrified wails cut through the black trees making up the Everfree Forest.

Applejack shot her eyes open in pure agony. She could never imagine such torment as this. She lay on the ground as the boulder that had crushed her legs was finally lifted off of her. Nightmare Moon started to speak but Applejack couldn't hear or see anything.

At that her horn glowed bright violet and sparkles and streams of magic shot out of the piercing object atop her head. The Elements glowed deep purple and vibrated uncontrollably. The ponies still conscious felt part of themselves being drained from them.

An orb of light came out of each of the Elements of Harmony, each one floated above the now empty black rocks with ancient symbols etched onto them. The five orbs spiraled around Nightmare Moon faster and faster, causing a band of light to form around her.

She closed her eyes in concentration, focusing on the Elements. The useless stone vessels cracked and burst into pieces at the intense magic coming from Nightmare Moon. Her spell sucked in the air inside the old castle, Twilight had to hang on to a nearby vine to avoid being sucked in.

Applejack's screams still sounded through the air.

The orbs suddenly flew towards Nightmare Moon one by one, each one growing her power ten-fold. She smiled to herself as the powerful magic flowed into her.

Fluttershy hid herself behind Rainbow Dash to shield herself from the dark figure standing in the middle of the hallway.

"Now you will all see the true power of the night!" Nightmare Moon yelled, her eyes glowing with darkness, "The night you all so foolishly push aside! The night you treat only as a waiting time for the sun to rise! I have been trapped in that horrible prison for 1000 years! And now you will all face the fate I was given so long ago by your precious princess! Do you hear me?!"

"DO YOU HEAR ME CELESTIA?! I KNOW YOU DO! I KNOW YOU ARE LISTENING! YOU WILL PAY MOST OF ALL FOR YOUR TREACHERY!"

Each time she spoke, the fury in her eyes grew. The fear in Twilight's eyes grew as well.

"THIS LAND WILL BE NOTHING BUT DUST AND RUIN FOR EVER!" Nightmare Moon's power continued to grow, "JUST AS I WAS IMPRISONED IN THAT BARREN MOON! THIS LAND WILL NEVER SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY AGAIN!"

A huge beam of purple magic shot out of the tip of her horn into the night sky. It tore through the sky, breaking through the barriers of sound and space. An incredible earthquake shook the ground, causing Twilight to lose her footing and fall to the ground.

She looked up at the monstrosity casting this earth shattering spell.

The mayor of Ponyville stopped yelling at the ponies running frantically around the town square and looked in the direction of the blast of magic rising from Everfree Forest. Other ponies stopped what they were doing and stared in awe as well. Not even the powerful earthquake could shake them from their fright.

The sky split above Ponyville, revealing a sheet of grey sky that seemed to go on forever. High up above the grey clouds a crescent moon shone dully through the sky. The sky split until it reached the horizon and the entire atmosphere became a shade of dark grey, undulating in swirls and patches of even darker grey.

The sun could faintly be seen just above the horizon line, but it was no longer full of life and warmth, it was empty and dull, matching the depressing sky.

The six defeated ponies lay on the stone floor writhing beneath the world-shaping power that had beaten them. Each one faded from consciousness one by one, Twilight struggled to stay awake, stay alive.

"AFTER ONE THOUSAND YEARS, THE TIME HAS FINALLY COME!" The icy voice bellowed, "YOU SHALL ALL FACE MY NIGHT WITHOUT HOPE FOR RELENT!"

At that she increased the strength of her magic and a white light shot out of her and started to envelope the land. For those last few seconds, the earthquake roared through the ground below Twilight, and as she was sent reeling from the shock, she could only form one thought

"I've failed I've failed you all "

"This is all my fault "

The light soared through the sky, reaching Ponyville and swarming it with its light.

Everypony in the town square stopped running and dropped to the ground, their minds gone.

=====================================

Chapter .000000002

She clopped through the beautiful world everywhere around her, taking in the sights of a land teeming with life. Her new legs wobbled to keep her up, she still had to adjust to her newfound form.

She stumbled over to one of the tall brown columns with a mess of green on top. She lay under this large object as something entered her head. A simple thought, but one that shook her new mind

She was alive.

She knew she was alive since she arrived here, but she never truly realized it until now. She didn't just know she was alive, she felt alive, she felt like an actual presence in the world, instead of just an object placed there.

Her mind reeled at this simple thought that brought her to a new understanding of where she was. Somehow, becoming aware of herself opened her mind to understand many new things, she was suddenly aware of her own actions. Before she had just moved without thinking, on instinct, but now she found out she had complete control over her movements.

She realized that she was not trapped within her instinct, she could do whatever she pleased. Her mind still tried to recover from her startling realization.

Her first action was to admire the object she had been sitting under. She looked up the brown column to the tangled green above her flowing mane. Something else simple but powerfully profound entered her head.

Words she looked up at the object and a word came to her thoughts

Tree.

She had discovered that she could give things names that could be used to identify the objects she was looking at.

Grass.

Flower.

Leaves.

She looked up at the large ball of heat above her.

Sun.

She spent the next few hours giving as many objects as she could names. Rock, sky, ground, dirt, petal, moss, her list grew and grew.

Then she noticed that some things were bigger or different then others, so she gave names to the differences between the things as well.

Tall, short, wide, hard, soft, narrow, rough, smooth

She continued to put words to different objects. She wasn't just forming words, she was forming language

She opened her eyes and surveyed where she was. She was in Ponyville's nursery, she had no idea how she gotten here.

The last thing remembered was flying into the castle in the Everfree Forest, and then

She remembered now, she and her friends had tried to stop Nightmare Moon from bringing the world into eternal darkness, and she was knocked out as she charged towards her. Did the others manage to succeed? Was the world really wrapped in darkness?

She wasn't going to find out in this hospital bed. She moved to get herself up, put a sharp pain in her side made her give up her efforts.

"Oh! Rainbow dear, please don't try to move!" Nurse Mercy trotted into the room, "You still need some more rest to recover!"

"Rest? No way!" Rainbow Dash boasted, "I don't need any rest, I just need to see if everypony else is ok!"

Something in her voice told her that everything wasn't ok. Before she had time to think about it, her head grew weary and she slumped back onto the pillow.

-6 hours after The Return-

Rarity

Rarity walked back to her boutique to get more supplies, almost every building in Ponyville was in need of repair, and her crafting skills made her perfect to help. She was an absolute mess, her mane was tangled and drooped over her grave face, her hooves were worn from so much walking, and her tail was limp and was in desperate need of brushing.

It hadn't helped that she woke up inside a bush.

She could only remember one thing after Nightmare Moon had thrown her against the wall; how horrible that voice had been that yelled out while unleashing its terrible magic.

She looked up at the dreary sky. Grey, just like it had been for the whole day. If there were any days anymore. There was just enough light to see. The stars were visible in the eternal night sky, but they only faintly showed in the dark sky. They were nothing like when Celestia was still raising the sun and moon, beautiful and sparkling.

The landscape was also changed, the grass now hung limply on the ground, and it was normally standing straight up.

Large cracks in the surface of the earth littered the ground, Rarity hopped over one on her way through Ponyville Plaza. Maybe later she could fix them and bring some semblance of order to this ravaged town.

As she slowly made her way to her shop, she saw another earth pony standing looking up at the night sky. She decided to approach her.

"Hello?" She called to the pony, "I was wondering if you have seen Fluttershy anywhere?"

The pony turned towards Rarity, her face etched with sorrow. "No, she is still in her cottage."

Still? Rarity thought, she had been in her cottage all day, she hadn't even tried to help the animals that became frightened since the earthquake. Still, she didn't expect Fluttershy to be outside; the state of the town would probably scare her even more.

She felt the withering grass crunch under her hooves. Even the grass had started to decay; it had turned into thick crunchy blades, their color draining every hour.

She finally got back to her boutique and gathered more materials into her saddlebags. She looked around her shop, seeing the damage the earthquake did to her home. She shuddered at the state of her boutique, her carefully placed decorations had fallen from their places, her stock was a complete mess, and she saw her life work practically falling apart in front of her.

She gathered what she needed and turned to leave, she had heard Twilight was calling them together for a meeting on what to do next. Well, she invited those who could attend.

Hopefully this would shed some answers on what happened to the beautiful land of Ponyville

Pinkie Pie

Pinkie Pie sat on a cushion in the Ponyville library, her mind in a blank state, her usually happy attitude a sad serious one. She hadn't smiled since she woke up outside of town square. She had tried to laugh, but she found that she couldn't find anything to laugh about.

She normally had a hundred things to laugh about, her friends, the bakery, holding parties for ponies even when they didn't want her to, and knowing that no matter what her friends where always there for her. But she didn't feel any of those things right now.

She only felt emptiness.

She only felt sadness.

Like the whole world had been drained of its happiness.

Twilight rushed to the other side of the room, knocking into Pinkie Pie on her way to another shelf.

"Oh! Sorry Pinkie Pie, I wasn't watching where I was go-" Twilight stopped and looked at her blank friend. "Uh, Pinkie Pie? Are you ok? You aren't your usual self."

Twilight didn't believe it for a second. Maybe she was just being Pinkie Pie. No one understood that pony after all.

Pinkie Pie stared off into the distance again, her mind wandering to the sad thoughts she was thinking. Will anything ever be the same? Would she be able to go back to working at the bakery? Would life ever be normal again?

She wanted to be happy, to laugh. But the ponies around town were all so sad, she couldn't stand seeing them all like this.

Rarity opened the door to join the two ponies, Pinkie Pie barely noticed her through her lonely thoughts. She sat down next to Pinkie Pie and saw the look of sadness on her face, she opened her mouth to speak, but closed it.

Twilight turned to the two mares in her living room, "Ok girls, since we are the only ones that saw what happened that were able to attend this meeting, and I feel it's necessary to formulate a plan of action. I have studied more on the Elements of Harmony and I was able to find that according to my research, we were more than qualified to receive the Elements."

Rarity spoke up, "Twilight my dear, we already knew that before we went to the Everfree Forest."

"I know that now, but when we left for the Forest I didn't think we could actually get the Elements in the first place! I didn't think that we could use them " Twilight hung her head, "Which is why I couldn't get the Spark to work, because I didn't think we could ever succeed in the first place .It's all my fault this happened "

"Twilight!" Rarity practically yelled, "This is not your fault! This is the fault of Nightmare Moon! And I simply will not let a friend of mine talk about herself that way!"

"No Rarity, it's true, I couldn't activate the Spark because I didn't believe in us. But then I realized that I had friends willing to help, and I trusted you to be able to use the Elements."

"But that's not all " She continued, "I tried a second time to activate the Spark, and that time it almost worked. I had complete faith in you ponies, but I still couldn't get it. The reason was that I was hiding something from you the whole time "

"I know! I know I lied! And I feel terrible, you have no idea how terrible I feel "

"But what is it you were hiding? It must be important if it caused you to not be able to use the Spark." Rarity's voice softened, "Twilight, if there's something you are hiding, you can tell us we won't be mad, right Pinkie?"

Pinkie just shook her head, taking in everything she was hearing.

"Well " Twilight mumbled, chocking on her words, "I knew about Nightmare Moon's return before I got to Ponyville. I had a reoccurring dream where a dark figure was defeated by a powerful pony, I thought that the Elements would summon the figure to defeat Nightmare Moon. I thought that I didn't need any of you, just that one that I thought would be summoned I'm sorry I didn't tell you all earlier, and now we are all paying for it "

"Twilight .I'm .it's ok. Really, I understand. You did what you felt was necessary." Rarity wiped a tear from the violet pony's eye.

"And what's in the past is done, the only thing we can do now is make the best of our situation, no matter how grim. You may have made a mistake, but we don't hate you for it. We're you friends Twilight, you can tell us anything. Ok?"

Twilight mumbled a reply.

"So from now on Twilight, no more secrets. Ever! If you know something important, tell us no matter how bad it is! There is no reason to hide something from your frien-"

"YOU!" Pinkie Pie shot out of her seat and pressed a hoof to Twilight's face, "YOU CAUSED THIS!"

"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT! YOU LIED TO US AND NOW .AND NOW ." Tears started to stream down her face as she screamed at one of her best friends. "AND NOW EVERYTHING IS RUINED!"

"PINKIE PIE! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"

"SHUT UP RARITY! HOW COULD YOU NOT CARE THAT SHE RUINED OUR LIVES!"

"LISTEN TO YOURSELF PINKIE PIE! THIS ISN'T YOU! Twilight made a mistake and she is already paying for it! You think she doesn't feel awful about all this?"

Pinkie Pie stood in front of Twilight, tears pouring out of both of their eyes, she gritted her teeth as she listened to Rarity's words. She suddenly became aware of what she just said, and she backed away from Twilight, her look changing from anger to one of intense guilt.

"Twi light I'm so sorry " She looked at the pony in front of her, the pony she reduced to a sobbing mess on the floor. She turned towards the door horrified of what she just did. Without taking one look back she galloped out the front door as fast as she could.

What had she done? How could she say those things? She never said mean things to anyone. Even when they made her really mad, she just smiled and brought everyone into a fit of laughter with her jokes.

She ran through the town marketplace surveying the destruction. Most ponies by this point were hiding in their homes, too scared to go out into the dark world. Only a few ponies could be seen in the small town.

She passed the small hospital, it was the only place left in Ponyville with any activity. She stopped in her tracks, watching the scene before her unfold. Ponies were leaving and entering the hospital left and right. Tents had been laid out; nurses and volunteers were running between them.

As a nurse left a tent pushing an empty stretcher, Pinkie Pie saw what was inside the tents. This wasn't a collection of healing tents.

It was a morgue.

The tents lined the field next to the hospital, each one housing those that did not survive the Return of Nightmare Moon. Ponies that could no longer live in their homes, no longer work in their shops, no longer see the one they loved more than life itself.

Ponies who never got to kiss their children good night.

She froze staring at the sight of rows of tents containing those who could not go on. She couldn't move. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't feel anything except the cold fact that these many ponies couldn't celebrate parties anymore.

Her thoughts turned to Rainbow Dash and Applejack. Could they be in those tents?

No way! She thought, Rainbow Dash and Applejack were too tough, nothing could stop them. She left before she had a chance to investigate the tents, galloping back to her home.

Twilight Sparkle

Her pink friend charged out of her front door, tears streaming down her face. She couldn't believe the way that pony was acting. It didn't matter though, she was right. She deserved it, it was all her fault.

Even though Rarity tried to comfort her, she couldn't hear her, she could only hear her thoughts of how she had let them all down. How she had ruined all these ponies lives. How so many ponies had gotten killed since she arrived in Ponyville.

She couldn't believe herself, why didn't she tell them about the dream? Why couldn't she have brought herself to tell them everything? She still didn't know.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the front door busting open again, she turned to it expecting Pinkie Pie to be back to accuse her again. Instead she found a weary Rainbow Dash at her doorstep, wearing a large bandage around her midsection.

"Hey girls." She lazily greeted the two ponies, her voice nowhere near her usual tone.

"Rainbow Dash! I'm thrilled to see you have awaked!" Rarity's face lit up.

"Yeah, the nurse finally let me out. But she said I can't use my wings for another week." Rainbow Dash hung her head, "Can you believe that? A whole week! What am I supposed to do for a whole week? I don't belong on the ground, I'm the best flyer in Equestria!"

"You should be thankful you can even walk in the first place after that nasty incident you took." Rarity reasoned.

Rainbow Dash thought back to what happened, that pillar that came out of the ground had hit her right on one of the nerves that controlled her wings, almost like Nightmare Moon wanted her to not be able to fly just to smite her.

Twilight remained silent, Rarity's foreleg still wrapped around her neck.

"Have you been able to see Applejack yet?" Rarity asked Rainbow Dash.

"Nah, the doc said no one was allowed to see her yet, but I guess that means she's still alive." Her voice trailed off. Was she ok? There where an awful lot of tents outside the hospital.

Rarity spoke up after a few moments of silence, "I'm sure she's fine dea-"

"I'm leaving." Twilight had broken out of reverie.

"WHAT!?" Both ponies shouted in alarm.

"I'm going back to Canterlot. I don't belong in Ponyville, I've caused nothing but trouble for all of you and I don't want to be burden for you anymore."

She started packing some of her books into an empty saddlebag. Her friends stared at her, unable to speak.

"I'm going to Canterlot to try and find Celestia, she's the only one who knows how to fix this."

"But sweetie, no one else has been able to find her either. What makes you think that you can find her when the entire Guard is searching for her and haven't found a thing?" Rarity asked.

"They don't know her like I do. Not the Royal Guard, not her advisers, and not even her nephew know her like I do. She was the first pony I ever considered a friend She is the only one I ever truly trusted growing up. Even more then my parents." She continued to pack tools and rations into her bag.

"So that's why I'm leaving, to go find my best friend. She's out there somewhere. And even if I don't find her, odds are I will be more useful there then I will here."

"Twilight, you couldn't possibly leave us he-"

"Sorry to interrupt," Rainbow Dash cut into her sentence, "But I don't think it's going to be possible to go to Canterlot."

"Nonsense!" Twilight shot back, unperturbed by Rainbow Dash's statement, "If I couldn't walk there I could always teleport. I've learned how to teleport over long distances during my time at Canterlot University."

"No, it's not that, it's just that well Canterlot is gone." Rainbow Dash pointed out the window.

"WHAT?!" Twilight ran to the window and peered outside. Rainbow Dash was right, Canterlot was gone. Not just the city, but the whole mountain range it was built on! The landscape around Ponyville seemed to be the same, but instead of meeting the foot of a mountain, it kept on going as far as they could see.

She ran to another window and saw the same sight. Only rolling hills dotted with trees as far as she could see. She looked out towards the Everfree Forest, but it was gone, replaced with more plains covered with trees and plants. It was as if Ponyville was the only thing around for one hundred miles!

"Twilight, what did Nightmare Moon do?" Rarity pleaded to the panicked pony.

"I, I don't know, but I think when she returned, she did more than bring eternal night. I think she changed the land itself!"

"No they didn't Rainbow Dash, but they also didn't say anything about Nightmare Moon taking the Elements of Harmony. Or the fact that I couldn't activate the Spark."

Rainbow Dash stood stunned while Twilight continued. "I think Nightmare Moon actually changed the land, I think she managed to move entire pieces of Equestria. She must have separated all the cities and towns from each other. If they are still there at all."

"By Celestia! Does that mean Ponyville is the only place around for hundreds of miles?" Rarity gasped.

"My guess is that Nightmare Moon isolated all the pony civilizations from each other. Trottingham, Canterlot, Hoofington, Stalliongrad. They're probably all at least three hundred miles away from each other, maybe more."

Rainbow Dash's jaw hung open, "So we're stuck here? By ourselves?"

"Not unless you would like to travel a few hundred miles by yourself." Twilight said flatly.

"Correct, which means we won't be getting help from anywhere else. That means we are on our own for the time being " Rarity's lip trembled a little, "Oh I hope we can sort this mess out soon, so we can all go back to our normal lives "

-2 hours after the Return-

Zecora

"Oh my aching head, next time I nap I should use my bed!" Zecora thought, pulling herself off the floor of her hut.

She got up before she realized she hadn't been napping, she had been trying to figure out what those noises coming from the old castle were. She heard crashing and rocks smashing, it sounded like some sort of fight was taking place, and a big one at that.

She had just packed some provisions to go investigate the sounds when she had the scream of a pony in great pain, it sounded like whoever was fighting was losing. She had had experience in fighting off the creatures of Everfree Forest; she used her skill with hunting weapons along with some unique magics she learned from her people long ago.

She galloped out of the hut ready to go help whoever was in need, but suddenly a beam of powerful magic shot into the air, piercing the clouds and shaking the ground. She stumbled over a vine as the ground shook around her, she could barely get back on her feet as the world seemed to tear itself apart.

A large fault crack shot past her and branched off into three separate cracks in three different directions. Whatever was happening here, it was powerful.

As she regained her footing, she saw a bright light come out of the beam of magic and go across the forest. It quickly enveloped her and before she knew it, she was out cold.

That was the last thing she could remember before waking up on her hut floor. She was still alive, so whatever it was that happened hadn't been lethal. Her hut on the other hoof was an absolute mess, brews spilled, books littered the ground, and her cauldron had spilled its contents onto the floor.

Then she thought of the nearby town she went to on occasion for supplies. They were absolutely terrified of her, but she still needed to see if they were alright.

"They may shriek at me with a yelp, but the ponies of Ponyville still need my help!" She thought to herself and grabbed the bag she had prepared earlier.

She galloped as fast as she could in the direction of Ponyville, expertly navigating the Forests tangled growth. It was strange that the earthquake had been so powerful yet the Forest was perfectly fine.

She brushed the thought from her head, she had to get these remedies to the ponies in Ponyville. She couldn't just stand by while somepony was hurt. But then she remembered the scream she heard before the earthquake, whoever it was probably needed help more then those in Ponyville. She was almost out of the Forest already, so she figured she would have time to drop her supplies off at the edge of the town and come back to help whoever had shouted out in pain.

She saw a gap in the forest up ahead, she had almost reached the edge of the forest. She galloped with a new sense of determination.

She burst through the tree line, but what she saw was even more shocking then she could have ever imagined. She skidded to a halt. Outside of the Everfree Forest was nothing.

The land she was standing on simply stopped, like a cliff. In fact, it was a cliff. The land ended in a sharp ninety degree drop into a layer of clouds below her. As far as she could see there was nothing but grey above her and clouds below her forming a thick floor of swirling wisps.

She peered over the edge, it was at least a hundred foot drop to the cloud layer below her. The rock holding up the land she was standing on grew narrower the farther down it went. It was like an upside down mountain, except it seemed to be floating above the clouds.

It looked as if the Everfree Forest had simply tore itself out of the ground and now floated on top of the clouds. She couldn't believe it, she was not only on a floating chunk of land, but the island was floating above the cloud layer!

Her mind struggled to accept the impossible, there was no way this could be happening. Then she remembered that she still had to help whoever was in peril. She turned around and galloped back into the forest. It would take at least an hour to reach the castle.

She hoped she would not be too late.

=====================================

Date: 1000Old Lunar Calendar

-2 hours before the Return-

???

Her mind raced as she tried to calm herself, she had prepared for this. She knew this was going to happen when it was supposed to, and she was not one to object the inevitable. She had prepared, she had trained, she had counted down the days, she had been waiting for this day for a long time. She was going to go through with this.

Nothing was going to stop her from doing what she going to do.

Nothing was going to stop her from completing her task.

Nothing was going to stop Mayor Mare from making the best speech of her life.

She adjusted her glasses against her snout, they were practically falling off of her face with all the sweat. There was no denying it, she had never been so nervous in her life. She looked at herself in the mirror. She was shaking.

"Ok", she thought to herself, "Okokokokokokokokokok I can do this " she tried to regain her composure in the mirror, she wasn't very successful. She always got a bit nervous before speeches but once she was onstage all her nervousness melted away. But this time it was the Princess herself!

That fact only made her even more nervous, if she messed up, she would have to answer to the throne! Oh, they might banish her from Equestria! Or throw her in a dungeon! Or banish her and then throw her in a dungeon in the place they banished her in!

She almost wanted to run to Celestia in her dressing room and beg her not to do these strange things to her if she messed up, but she didn't leave her room.

She knew Celestia said that absolutely no one was to disturb her before the Summer Sun Celebration.

Even if it was life or death.

Princess Celestia

Celestia sat in her dressing room, the one the Mayor had set up for her. She was such a sweet mayor, but she had a tendency to be a nervous wreck sometimes. Celestia used her magic to push all the furniture to the outside of the room and locked the door. She told her not to let anyone disturb her, she didn't want anyone to get pulled into this.

She sat in the middle of the room, her eyes closed in preparation for what was going to happen. She did not want it to be this way, she hadn't wanted it to be this way 1000 years before.

Yet here she was.

As she was collecting her thoughts, a breeze swept through the window. She knew it was time, time for Nightmare Moon to return.

She placed a silence spell on the walls so no one could hear from the outside.

The wind began to manifest itself into a shape, Celestia knew that shape, she remembered it from when she encased it in the middle of the moon 1000 years ago. She was not scared. She trusted the six ponies she had chosen to take the Elements of Harmony.

She smiled to herself.

The wind grew darker and began to form into four legs. A body formed quickly after. Then a pair of great wings spread from the shadow, and soon a head with two dark green eyes. They stared Celestia right in the face.

The black figure dispelled the darkness oozing from her formed body with a flick of her wings. She too had been preparing 1000 years for this day.

Darkness embodied and Light embodied sat in front of each other looking each other in the eyes, neither with any fear.

"So you've come to visit have you?" Celestia was the first to speak, and flashed a small smile.

"About 1000 years, I guess you were right on that part. You just had to put down every little detail in that old mare's tale didn't you?"

"I would like our subjects to either reject the whole truth or a complete lie, but not only part of the story."

"Interesting choice of words. However they are my subjects after all, so you should probably get used to the idea."

"They are either my subjects or both of ours, but they are not yours!"

"You know what? I say we just get DOWN TO BUSINESS!" Nightmare Moon flared her deep purple aura of magic.

Celestia didn't bat an eyelid, "If you wish."

Their horns glowed and magic shot out through the room.

A split second later they were gone.

Celestia opened her eyes after the flash of light and saw where they had teleported. She saw grey dust in irregular patterns filled with small craters. She looked up and saw thousands of shining stars in every direction in the darkness around them. There was no doubt about it.

They were on the dark side of the moon.

"So how do you like it?" Nightmare Moon sneered, "You must have, because this is where you forced me to live for 1000 years!"

"You know why I put you here. It was the only place where you could do no harm."

"So do you like what I've done with the place?" Nightmare Moon asked, ignoring Celestia's comment.

She looked around at the extraterrestrial wasteland. There were craters littering the land, obviously places where Luna had practiced her magic spells. Some places were turned to glass.

Nightmare Moon continued, "1000 years of practicing, I've managed to regain all of my powers within the first 600 years you know. I'll bet you were hoping it would have taken longer, what with you using the Elements to strip me of my magic."

Celestia said nothing, only looked around at the lonely wasteland she had trapped Luna for 1000 years. Her eyes moistened as she thought of her sister.

She shot a quick blast of magic at Celestia, she stopped it without even moving. Her attacker lunged at her, preparing another blast of magic.

Celestia simply lowered her graceful form in preparation. Nightmare Moon shot a purple bolt at Celestia's legs. Celestia simply kicked it away. Nightmare Moon tried to stab her with her horn after Celestia kicked the spell away.

She dodged to the side and turned her horn towards Nightmare Moon and blasted her side with a quick bolt of white magic.

Nightmare Moon flew through the air, slowly falling from the moons weak gravity. A small cloud of moon dust sprang up around her when she hit the ground.

"So I see your own skill has not faltered in my absence." Nightmare Moon got up, "Good, now we can actually get started.

Celestia said nothing.

Both combatants charged towards each other at full speed, wings spread. As they reached each other, they both teleported in a flash. For a few moments, all was silent.

Another flash rang out a mile away above the surface. Celestia and Nightmare Moon clashed against each other, pressing their bodies against the other combatant. Another flash, they disappeared.

They appeared once again as their bodies collided, this time 50 feet above the surface. They disappeared again.

Another flash and another great clashing sound, deepened by the moons weak atmosphere.

Another flash.

Another flash.

And another, and another, and another.

They kept hitting each other at light speed as fast as they could, the two figures glowed black and white as explosions of light came from each impact. They were teleporting faster than sound could process. Flashes of light covered the atmosphere around the moon.

Each combatant teleported away from each other, never breaking eye contact. They charged towards each other at full speed. Twenty foot waves of dust soared upwards behind them as they flew.

They collided with an incredible smash, the shockwave sent a rippling through the ground, followed by a massive crater spontaneously smashing into the ground below them. Large clouds of dust shot up into the air.

They jumped apart from each other. Seeing the other not yet defeated, they lowered their forms and prepared a spell. Nightmare Moon's horn glowed an intense purple, Celestia's glowed a pure white.

They fired a powerful beam of magic at each other. The two spells collided at the midpoint between them. The spells collided with a bright explosions; they blended together, each trying to get past the other. Celestia put all her effort into increasing the strength of the spell, but she could not break it.

Neither could Nightmare Moon.

Finally she sent the last of her spell through the beam as a ball of intense magic. Nightmare Moon did the same.

The two balls of magic travelled through the beams until they crashed into each other causing a giant explosion. Celestia shielded herself from the shockwave. She heaved as the shockwave passed. When the dust settled, she saw her enemy standing tall.

"See Celestia? My power has grown to surpass that of your own! You can't possibly win!"

"Maybe, you may have superior power, but I will show you what true strength is!"

She picked up a boulder out of the moon with her magic and threw it at Nightmare Moon. She charged after the rock.

Nightmare Moon reacted by bringing a pillar of rock from the ground. The boulder collided and shattered both the rocks, turning them to dust. Nightmare Moon looked up from her spell and saw a crazed white form charging towards her, before she could react from her previous defense, the mare reached her and brought a powerful strike to her chest.

She went flying from the impact and fell to the ground and laid there.

Celestia walked up to the fallen form, her body not moving. She heaved a sigh, she wish it didn't have to be like this. Before she could finish her off, Nightmare Moon's horn glowed suddenly. Celestia barely had time to get out of the way as a boulder flew up from underneath her, followed by another.

More boulders came up from the ground and Celestia flew between each one. Nightmare Moon got up and continued her attack, focusing on throwing large chunks of the moon at Celestia. Celestia dodged each one.

The battle raged throughout the dark side of the moon.

Down on the surface of Equestria, a group of ponies were throwing a party in honor of a newcomer to the town of Ponyville, unaware of the battle between the two goddesses.

They continued to fight with all of their strength. Destroying entire chunks of the moon in their rage. The surface of the dark side of the moon was now impossible to navigate, craters covered the entire surface, some hundreds of feet deep.

The two fighters finally stopped and looked at each other. They were both becoming weary, but neither side gave up. Celestia knew this had to end now, before it was too late to do anything more.

She started to gather every bit of magic she had left, she had one last spell to cast to end this conflict. Nightmare Moon started to gather her own magic, she wasn't about to let 1000 years of prison go to waste.

Celestia reached into the deepest part of her being and found the magic for the spell she used to imprison Nightmare Moon so long ago. She sighed at having to use this spell again, but it had to be done.

Before Nightmare Moon finished gathering her magic, Celestia shot out four white magical chains and grabbed Nightmare Moon. Nightmare Moon struggled under her constraints but no matter how hard she tried she could not break them.

Once she had Nightmare Moon in her grasp she concentrated once again, this spell would require every ounce of magic she had in her entire being. She had on occasion wondered what happens when a unicorn puts their entire being into a spell.

She was about to find out.

She reached out to the stars, each in one of four directions. She pulled as hard as she could, and she broke off a piece of the stars out of their orbit and brought them towards her. Towards Nightmare Moon.

She knew this spell might kill her, but as long as she could defeat Nightmare Moon she didn't care.

Four glimmers from the four points on the horizons glimmered brighter and flashed as a piece of them was broken off. They grew brighter and brighter as they hurled towards the moon, all aimed at Nightmare Moon.

Nightmare Moon fought back with every spell she could think of, but nothing could pierce the shield Celestia put up around herself. She was still trapped in her chains, unable to move.

The stars came closer, they glowed even brighter throughout the night sky. Celestia struggled to keep the star fragments headed towards Nightmare Moon. She started to feel her spell breaking. Nightmare Moon was resisting the chains, she felt them loosen slightly.

As she struggled to keep her spell intact, she felt a presence looking at her.

Using a small bit of magic, she tried to sense who it was. She felt someone looking up at the moon, whoever it was would obviously be able to notice the four glimmering lights converging on the moon. She pushed to find out who it was. It cost her some of her magic, but she was confident finding whoever this pony was was important.

Then she recognized them.

It was her own personal student, Twilight Sparkles. She was lying at her new home with her head on her pillow, she was turned to the window, looking up at the moon.

At that moment Celestia felt a Spark deep inside her. She found new reason to fight, to beat Nightmare Moon. She had to fight for everyone who was living on the face of the planet. She had to fight for her friends, for those she loved more than life itself, for those she couldn't live without.

For Twilight Sparkle, her best friend.

With renewed strength, she increased her hold on Nightmare Moon. Her eyes flared white. The star fragments were almost at the moons upper atmosphere. Nightmare Moon thrashed against her bonds desperately, unable to escape the fate plunging down to meet her.

In one last effort, Nightmare Moon reached deep into herself and found her hidden power. Without hesitating, she unleashed it.

Five beams of light shot out of Nightmare Moon's horn, they converged on Celestia, trying to break free. Her eyes flared pure black. The fragments caused a loud boom as they reached the atmosphere. With one last final effort, Celestia kept her hold on Nightmare Moon.

The five lights hit Celestia again and again, trying to break her. She resisted for as long as she could before she began to succumb to their blows. The fragments were so close she could feel their heat.

Nightmare Moon gave one final push, and to Celestia's horror the bonds broke. The fragments were now seconds away from hitting the surface of the dark side of the moon. The ground started to violently shake. Celestia screamed in exasperation.

"YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU TRY TO STOP ME?! YOU HAVE FAILED CELESTIA, MY 'DEAR SISTER,' AND NOW YOU WILL DIE WHILE I LIVE ON TO RULE EQUESTRIA!" Nightmare Moon roared over the flaming star fragments searing the surface of the moon.

"SHE IS NOT YOUR SISTER!" A voice yelled from inside Nightmare Moon.

A beam of dark blue shot out of her chest and encased Celestia, and after a quick flash she was gone as the fragments collided where she was previously flying.

"YOU FOAL!" Nightmare Moon shouted. The fragments crashed together only 20 feet from her. The only thing she could see was the huge chunks of flaring molten rock heading towards her.

At the last possible second Nightmare Moon cast a teleportation spell, she felt the stars sear the tip of her horn as she teleported off of the damned moon.

The fragments hit the dark side of the moon with an impossibly huge explosion. The shockwave from the impact caused every piece of moon dust to fly into the air, only to be disintegrated by the explosion.

From the far reaches of space a glimmer of light could be seen flashing brightly, then slowly fading.

The crater grew and grew until the explosion subsided. The surface where the stars hit had unearthed magma from the moons core. The rest of the surface had turned to solid glass.

Down below on the surface of the planet, the town of Ponyville had gathered to see Princess Celestia raise the sun during the Summer Sun Celebration.

Their wishes would not be granted.

Nightmare Moon grinned to herself as she speed across the surface of the Everfree Forest.